10 Makeup Influencers Every DTC Brand Should Know in 2024

Manu Sheen
Manu Sheen
Customer Success Manager at Insense
Makeup Influencer

As you well know, the makeup and beauty industry is extremely competitive.

After all, you have big long-standing brands that will always remain very popular and also new brands entering the market all the time.

Thus, making your makeup brand stand out is of the utmost importance.

Of course, there are many digital marketing strategies that you can use to achieve that.

However, in recent years, influencer marketing has become a top choice for makeup and beauty brands, due to its amazing results.

Still, finding the right beauty guru is no easy feat.

So, we’ve decided to give you a helping hand with some tips and tricks and a list of top makeup influencers every DTC brand should know in 2024.

Let’s dive in.

Why Work With a Makeup and Beauty Influencer?

First off, getting into influencer marketing is becoming increasingly important for all business sectors, not just makeup and beauty.

Why?

Because according to a 2021 global survey, 89% of consumers trust and act on the recommendations of people they know, rather than online brand ads.

Thus, friends, family, and—most importantly—influencers, hold immense power over consumer behavior.

Now, let’s see how this applies in our case. Here are some of the main advantages of working with a makeup and beauty influencer:

  1. Increased brand awareness and reach. Due to the rise of social media platforms, influencers are gaining more and more followers every day.

Just look at James Charles, an American beauty influencer who started with a small YouTube channel and has now reached 23.9 million subscribers.

Overall, by creating ad creatives for your beauty brand, influencers can expose your business to a very large consumer pool.

  1. More trust, loyalty, and credibility. Users view established influencers as trusted beauty experts.

Thus, if you work with influencers to promote your makeup or skincare products, it’ll enhance your brand’s credibility and build consumer trust and loyalty.

Of course, some of these influencers are actual professional makeup artists, like Huda Kattan, the founder of Huda Beauty. However, even self-taught makeup artists have a big impact on consumers.

  1. Increased sales. Influencers are often trendsetters. 

And we’re not just talking about big internet personalities in the makeup industry, like Jeffree Star or Nikkie de Jager-Drossaers.

By sharing product reviews and makeup tutorials that feature your products, even micro-influencers can make these items highly sought-after.

As a result, they’ll instill a sense of urgency that can persuade consumers to purchase your products.

  1. Higher ROI. According to LinkedIn, for every dollar spent on influencer marketing in the makeup and beauty industry, brands can see an average return of up to $11.33.

While these advantages are not exhaustive, they clearly show that working with a makeup and beauty influencer is very good for business.

But how do you find the right person for the job?

Keep reading and find out.

How to Find Makeup Influencers for Your Brand

One of the biggest challenges of influencer marketing is finding social media influencers for your brand.

Why?

Because even though there are lots of top beauty influencers out there, you need to find those that best align with your brand and products.

The right makeup influencers will create beauty content that resonates with your target audience, thus ensuring the success of your marketing campaign.

In addition, you should identify influencers that you can afford. 

After all, if you own a small makeup brand, you probably won’t be able to afford famous influencers, like Jaclyn Hill or Michelle Phan.

So, here’s how you can find them.

Search through social media hashtags

Hashtags are a great resource for finding influencers

However, before you begin, you should do a bit of research and identify the most trending hashtags in the makeup and beauty industry (e.g. #beautyproductsreview).

The good news is that Instagram’s Explore page and TikTok’s Discover page allow you to stay up to date with the most popular hashtags in your industry.

Alternatively, you can also search for hashtag lists on Google.

Then, drop these hashtags in the search bar of your social media platform and start analyzing the results.

To narrow down your search, pick the results with the biggest engagement and then check out the user’s follower count.

Note that if a user has a huge follower count, they are most likely a beauty guru that you won’t be able to afford, such as nikkietutorials.

In any case, after you find a makeup influencer it’s time for an in-depth analysis of their profile to determine if their audience demographics match your brand.

Unfortunately, this entire process is very time-consuming and not very precise because it doesn’t allow you to properly filter the search results.

Look at whom your competitors are collaborating with

Another good strategy for finding makeup content creators is to check out your competitors’ collaborations.

That entails doing a bit of market research to first identify your competition. 

When doing this, try to be realistic. If you own a small makeup brand, big names like Maybelline or MUA are not really your competitors, because they play in a different league.

Once you have a list of real competitors, start analyzing their tags, mentions, content, and follower base to spot the influencers who promote their brand and beauty products (e.g., Instagram brand ambassadors).

However, note that even if you find established makeup influencers this doesn’t mean they are automatically right for you

Thus, you should analyze the influencer’s audience to find out if it’s compatible with your brand’s target audience.

And even if they are right for your brand, make sure you can afford them. For instance, an experienced makeup artist will likely charge more than a content creator with a passion for makeup.

Once again, this is not an exact science, so it’s hard to tell if you’ve found the right person for the job until you reach out to them.

Sign up for an influencer marketing platform

As opposed to the previous strategies, using an influencer marketing platform will enable you to find the right makeup influencers in no time.

Let’s take Insense for example.

Our influencer marketing platform has an influencer database of over 20,000 users from different countries, thus offering many partnership opportunities.

In addition, Insense’s Creator Marketplace feature allows you to search for influencers by applying the following advanced search filters:

  • Social media platform (Instagram or TikTok influencers)
  • Industry (beauty & care)
  • Location (country)
  • Demographics (age, gender, ethnicity)
  • Price

As such, you can find appropriate influencers for your makeup brand in a matter of minutes.

Then, you can use Insense’s Direct Chat feature to immediately reach out to them and propose a collaboration.

Once you create partnerships, the Campaign Management feature will help you manage and track the progress of your influencer marketing campaigns.

Engage in the makeup and beauty community

Another good strategy for finding collaborators is networking.

Here’s how you can do this:

  • Attend local industry events where you can meet and talk face-to-face with makeup artists and influencers.
  • Join online makeup and beauty groups and forums to identify trendsetters or influencers that other users are raving about.
  • Engage with makeup influencers on social media platforms by liking, sharing, and commenting on their content to start building a relationship.

This strategy works well but it takes a long time.

Thus, you should try the other strategies first and use this one to find new talent for future influencer marketing campaigns.

But until then, let’s look at some top makeup influencers that you can start collaborating with now.

Top 10 Makeup Influencers to Collab With

If you’re new to influencer marketing and don’t know where to start, this will help.

Our list of top beauty micro-influencers includes vetted creators with high engagement rates and enough TikTok and Instagram followers to put your makeup brand on the map.

Let’s take a look.

Influencer #1: Suzi_sina

This is Suzana, a cool mom-to-be and a TikTok beauty and fashion influencer with a big follower count.

Image source: TikTok

As you can see, Suzana loves testing beauty products and creating tutorials for various makeup looks.

And the best part is that her TikTok videos get lots of views, so she can easily boost your brand’s reach.

As for her audience, 89% are women with ages ranging from 18 to 40, which means Suzana can be a good match for many makeup brands.

Invite to collab: Sign up for free

Influencer #2: abbyfridman

Abigail Fridman is a very popular travel influencer with a passion for makeup and skincare products.

Image source: Instagram

If you take a look at her Instagram feed, you’ll notice that Abigail posts many reels that showcase how she uses different makeup products to create her own makeup.

Most of her Instagram followers are women aged 25 to 34, but the interesting part is that 19% of her audience is male.

So, if your products also include cosmetics for men, you can take advantage of Abigail’s audience to promote them.

Invite to collab: Sign up for free

Influencer #3: Kbangerz

Meet Kbangerz, a TikTok influencer specializing in makeup tips, skincare routines, and plus-size content.

Image source: TikTok

Her most used hashtag is #grwm, aka get ready with me, and as you’ll see on her TikTok profile, she has lots of trending GRWM vlogs.

Still, what we like most about Kbangerz is that her content offers beauty tips and inspirational messages for plus-size young women.

So, if you choose to collaborate with her, you’ll show your audience that your brand values inclusivity and a positive body image.

Invite to collab: Sign up for free

Influencer #4: __pauletteo

Paulette is an amazing TikTok beauty vlogger with a high engagement rate.

Image source: TikTok

Most of her TikTok vlogs showcase beauty products that she uses in her skincare routines.

And the best part is that she wears no makeup in these videos so that her followers can see her natural radiant skin.

That, in turn, enhances the authenticity and credibility of her content and can do the same for your brand.

But that’s not all, Paulette also promotes lots of makeup products through nicely-crafted makeup tutorials.

Invite to collab: Sign up for free

Influencer #5: enchantedmakeup

Ariana is a TikTok influencer and a self-taught makeup artist with incredible potential.

Image source: TikTok

Ariana’s TikTok vlogs feature glam makeup tips that show her artistry for combining colorful eye shadows.

Plus, if you’re targeting a Spanish-speaking audience, Ariana should be at the top of your list.

Her followers are 90% young women aged 25 to 34, mostly from Mexico.

Invite to collab: Sign up for free

Influencer #6: Bishuwish

Bishuwish, aka KC, is an American self-taught makeup artist, digital creator, and beauty enthusiast.

Image source: TikTok

KC uses her TikTok profile to promote makeup products through easy and fun makeup tutorials.

On top of that, she can help your brand reach women aged 35 to 44, which is not very common on social media platforms like TikTok. 

Invite to collab: Sign up for free

Influencer #7: greeneggsandglam

Jennie is a Boston-based TikTok influencer and a go-to source for makeup product reviews and tutorials.

Image source: TikTok

Jennie has a very high engagement rate because her followers consider her a makeup expert.

Why is that? Because she used to be an Ulta/Dior/Sephora manager.

In addition to her good reputation, she reviews lots of products from both small and large well-known brands (e.g., Maybelline), which makes her vlogs very authentic and credible.

Invite to collab: Sign up for free

Influencer #8: salmasofia

Salma Sofia is another talented Spanish-speaking, self-taught makeup artist and a beauty and lifestyle Instagram and TikTok creator.

Image source: Instagram

If you check out her Instagram feed, you’ll see that she posts lots of makeup tutorials showcasing bright and colorful eyeshadows.

However, Salma Sofia also posts photos with her husband and her pregnant belly, which makes her very relatable to her Instagram followers.

And if your target audience is mostly Latino women, aged 18 to 34, this could be the right match for your influencer marketing campaign.

Invite to collab: Sign up for free

Influencer #9: schloewe4

Meet Elina, a very successful German makeup influencer with a very high TikTok engagement rate.

Image source: TikTok

First off, if you're looking to extend your beauty brand’s reach to Germany, choosing a popular German makeup influencer like Elina is the way to go.

Her vlogs include lots of get-ready-with-me videos and easy makeup tutorials that showcase affordable products that any makeup enthusiast can use.

This makes her content very relatable and authentic and can help your brand enter this untapped market.

Invite to collab: Sign up for free

Influencer #10: albita.arriera

Are you searching for top beauty influencers from Spain? Look no further, because Albita Arriera is a great choice.

Image Source: TikTok

One of the most important aspects to keep in mind is that Albita Arrieta’s followers are predominantly young women between the ages of 18 and 24.

That makes her a perfect match for makeup brands targeting this age group.

Plus, one of the reasons why she attracts such a young audience is that her beauty content is both useful and very funny.

Invite to collab: Sign up for free

Find the Top Makeup Influencers for Your Brand Now

So, there you have it; our list of top makeup influencers you shouldn’t overlook in 2024.

Still, if none of them seem to align with your makeup brand, don’t panic!

There are many more where they came from.

And if you don’t want to waste precious time finding them, you don’t have to.

Just book a demo with Insense and you can find the perfect match in minutes. 🪄

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Manu Sheen

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